The AI still gives you specialization techs as gifts, that you can't refuse.  This extreme annoyance has been around for a very long time.  I don't want a reduced cost for building ship components forced onto me, when I was planning on taking the reduced mass specialization instead.  Is it game breaking?  No probably not.  Is it annoying as f***?  Yes, yes it is.

Several options are available to "fix" this:

1) Let us refuse a gift tech.

2) If an AI gifts you a specialization tech, you are still able to research your own specialization choice.

3) The AI will never gift you a tech that is a specialization tech.

Pick any of those 3 and implement them.  Please.